The present invention relates to improvements in carpet or rug making machinery, particularly but not necessarily exclusively, of the type adapted to make samples, smaller rugs or carpets of a specialist nature often in limited numbers.
Currently available carpet rug making machinery of the aforementioned type are typically constructed in a manner similar to commercial carpet or rug making machines, that is, with an in line array of needles disposed transversely across a backing sheet or web adapted to form a line of yarn loops in the longitudinal or feed direction of the backing sheet with the backing sheet being incrementally moved in said feed direction each time a yarn loop is formed. A loop forming hook and/or cutting means for each needle is provided on the opposite side of the backing sheet or web and individual or collective yarn feed systems are also provided for each needle in the array. While these systems generally work well and reasonably quickly when commercially making carpet or rugs, the machines are particularly costly, even when built on a smaller scale for making samples. These types of machines also suffer some disadvantages in their levels or ease of adjustability or flexibility when various designs are desired to be made when samples are to be produced. For example, adjustment of the spacing between the needles in the array of needles to vary the distance between the yarn loops formed thereby is difficult and, if possible to achieve, is certainly a slow process to achieve. Further, the ability to alter the direction of the loops to be inclined to the feed or transverse directions is possible with purpose built conventional machines by bodily moving an array of loop forming needles to the left or the right but the flexibility of curved or individual sections of stitching is difficult or impossible to achieve. Producing sections of stitching pile loops in the feed direction alone is certainly extremely difficult or impossible with conventional machines. It is also to be recognized that speed of carpet or rug production is important when carpet or rugs are being produced commercially but it is not so important when samples or specialist limited run carpets/rugs are being made. With sample or specialist limited run production, ease and speed of being able to vary various parameters is generally a more desirable attribute.
While modern carpet or rug making machinery is generally constructed as described above whether it is intended for making samples or commercially sized rugs or carpets, however, it is also recognized that U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,757,795 and 1,883,599 disclose a different type of machine for making commercial sized rugs or carpets where a single needle head to which one yarn filament is fed, the needle head being moved across the backing sheet or web where yarn loops are formed in a line across the backing sheet or web by movement of the needle head. Once a line is produced, either the needle head is moved relative to the previous line produced, or the backing web is moved relative to the needle head, and the needle head is returned to the other side of the backing web to start a new line. No level of adjustability is described in these prior art specifications.